Saturday 16 June 2018

Thieving.




I am absolutely amazed by seemingly ordinary folk who think nothing of stealing. From what I see, almost anyone these days sees theft as acceptable everyday behaviour.

Personally I have never stolen. OK, maybe a pencil from school or a paint brush from college, but I have never knowingly, on purpose, taken things that do not belong to me.

It is accepted that every new invention or service will have the criminal world racking its brains how to abuse it, and I suppose that the Amazon delivery service must have been aware of this.

Many Amazon delivery vans now have an accompanying queue of followers, ready to pounce on whatever package is left on a doorstep (see above). What a dreadful bloody world we live in.



47 comments:

  1. I am lucky live in a nice area but when I first moved here the "gangs " smash mailboxes for mail, I had my mailbox broken into twice. Neighbor had her bank account stolen. I try to do everything now by computer.
    They will steal anything from decorations and plants. Packages are just a plus.
    Never leave anything out. It is so sad and awful.
    Since moving here I have destroyed 3 shredders.
    I shred everything.

    cheers, parsnip

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    1. And it all seems to 'normal'; these days one has to expect people to steal from you, no matter who they are.

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    2. I know and that is so awful.

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  2. Twenty years ago we had our tires stolen off of our car during the night. They propped our car up on old batteries. At least that took effort. Now they can steal from you invisibility thru the Internet and it usually comes from other countries. This is the world we live in.

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    1. Normally things that go wrong can be remedied, I fear that crime through the net cannot.

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  3. So far, at least, we are able to have deliveries left on our front doorstep without any problem. Long may it last.

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    1. Our lovely postie (Marie-Ange) brings our parcels to the kitchen.

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  4. There's a funny story in Christie Brown's biography about children opening the tailgate of a coal truck as it was going up a hill in Dublin. People were very poor in those days and these kind of antics were understandable.

    Nowadays of course you'll get ripped off from all sides. I believe the money lenders in cahoots with political allies are the worst culprits.

    International charities have recently been found wanting. Donations seemingly vanishing into thin air.


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    1. That reminds me of The Railway Children where the young son goes stealing coal at the Railway Station.

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    2. I'm afraid that very few 'charities' really are charitable.

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  5. We live in a condominium of 12 families so the delivery man/woman rings to anyone of the outside bells on our gategate delivers the parcels to whoever is home. Incase no one is in, they return for a second delivery. The delivery people of various couriers are always the same people and we have learnt their names and faces and them ours. So far so good.
    Greetings Maria x

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    1. It very much depends on the delivery men/women. Some are paid by the amount of parcels delivered, and no 'service' is offered or expected. Others like my postie are only too pleased to be as helpful as possible.

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  6. Opportunists abound when it comes to theft.
    Most times down here, Down Under, the delivery people will leave a card if no one is home and it is a post office delivered parcel.

    Alphie

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    1. Unfortunately those 'opportunists' are on the increase; hugely.

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  7. Alas even here we have sticky fingers. The men were discussing it last night. K got a new anchor for his boat last week and left it on the front of the boat, tied on. Next day it was obvious someone had tried to take it.
    Small tools, garden furniture, anything portable from an unfenced yard is 'fair game' according to some.
    We lost bags of cement overnight when we were building on to our house .
    20 years ago this just didn't happen and any cleptomaniac was known to everyone

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    1. That's my impression too. Some years ago people were much more honest; these days they couldn't care less. They know that even if they are caught, nothing will happen to them.

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  8. The police don't bother investigating small domestic theft so we might as well all jump on the thieving bandwagon!!

    I worry for what the world will be like for my grandchildren

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    1. The fear of being caught and punished was the second reason why I have been on the straight and narrow. Parents passed on the first reason!
      I have been anti buying anything from 'a man in a pub' as well for we all know that this would be stolen goods as well.
      Trouble is knowing the car boot and eBay backstory.

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    2. And now in the UK, shoplifting has almost been sanctioned. No-one will be prosecuted for stealing anything under £20. Bizarre.

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    3. "No-one will be prosecuted for stealing under £20." Is that true? Thanks for the info, Cro. I had no idea. I always thought it best if you do steal to steal high value, say a van Gogh - to make it worth going to prison:) According to you, I can now save money by my packet of Marigold rubber gloves (£2.50) miraculously attaching itself to my shopping bag, unnoticed by me till I get home.

      As to Amazon. That's not my experience. They don't just leave parcels on the doorstep. On ordering you have to give them your delivery details (say, you aren't in leave it with neighbour X). Otherwise they'll attempt second delivery. On high value items they want a signature on delivery. And then, there is their tracking service, notifying you, like most delivery firms, of estimated and imminent delivery time. If you give them permission to leave a parcel at your doorstep then I am afraid that's your risk. I am talking towns and cities. That it's different in the country side I do appreciate. How does the saying go: "Opportunity maketh the thief". Though why anyone would wish to steal a sealed parcel not knowing what's inside beats me.

      U

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    4. If you consult YouTube, you will see how common this is. People also have fun playing with explosive parcels; just for fun!

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  9. I thought at least she went away and thought about what she was going to do and perhaps had a wrestle with her conscience, but no, it was to get bag to hide it. It is indeed sad to see.

    Our building, 128 apartments, has a mailroom where packages are left all the time and as far as I know, aren't being stolen. But there is cctv coverage. We used to have a card left if we weren't home and collect the parcel at the post office across the road, but now they seem to leave the parcel.

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    1. They always left a card in the UK too, but I believe nowadays they either throw it over the fence, or leave it on the doorstep.

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  10. We have an allotment about half a mile away from our home. (We have a large flower garden but didn't want to sacrifice the flowers!)
    Most sheds on the 56 allotments are broken into weekly. They steal everything from garden tools to a humble packet of seeds.
    There is a shipping container typed used to hold rotovators etc but the thieves came one night well prepared with bolt cutters and stole £12000 worth of equipment.
    We have a photograph of the allotment taken mid 1930s where you can see no fences at all. Now each allotment is fenced and there is a perimeter fence consisting of spike top posts and barbed wire.
    It's so terribly sad and frustrating that you can't even leave a tin of biscuits and a jar of coffee for refreshments without it being taken.

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    1. That really is terrible. I've heard of allotment holders who turn up to find all their crops gone! I've been living in France for well over half my life, and have still never taken the keys out of the car, or locked the house doors. I wonder how long that will last?

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    2. At my former allotment site we were broken into 3 times, had every apple from one tree stolen, all the strawberries and some brassicas. It never felt the same again and we stopped locking the sheds and took anything valuable home.
      We moved sites and had some produce stolen again, but that was another plotholder who preferred stealing to the hard work of growing his own stuff!

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    3. Almost anyone can turn out to be a Tea-Leaf. They don't wear masks and carry swag bags any more!

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  11. We've been very lucky so far but I'm ready. But there's one up side to this I suppose...if you need to get rid of anything, just leave it outside your front gate and somebody will nick it!

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    1. I once took a wire basket that someone had put out amongst stuff for people to take. It was years before I realised it was a stolen supermarket basket! I still have it.

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  12. Fortunately there are still many honest people around. I take heart from that.

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    1. The Australian goalkeeper plays for Brighton. Australia are about to kick off against France.

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    2. I watched a tiny bit of part 1; it was like watching village football.

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  13. My Grandson was going to America on business and my Daughter told him to be careful because of the crime.
    He told her not to worry as there was more crime in London where he lives than in America. Sadly I think he's correct.
    Briony
    x

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    1. He IS right. I heard the crime figures just recently.

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  14. As far as I remember, I only stole once - a pair of bolt-croppers from college! I got caught and prosecuted to my great shame. I think it was a sort of desperate act when I was going through a desperate time. Many shoplifters are found to have a lot of cash on them when caught.

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    1. Anything that followed me away from College was usually by accident. A happy accident, of course!

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  15. We had a boat motor stolen in the dead of winter at our cottage a few years ago. They had to be determined to do that as they came in on snow mobiles.
    Otherwise, we have been fortunate I guess, nothing else has ever been stolen there or home.

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    1. I imagine a boat engine is worth good money. Obviously 'specialists'.

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  16. I suppose the rise in on line ordering has opened up a completely new area of crime. Disgusting. And not poor people if the picture is anything to go by.

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    1. She looks like your average school gate Mum.

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  17. It's the 'sense-of-entitlement" generation.

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    1. Maybe it's that old Socialist war-cry "What's yours is mine, and what's mine's my own".

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  18. I sell on eBay and videos of package stealing thieves are all over the internet. Of the over 500 packages I've mailed out, not one has been 'intercepted". But I know it's only a matter of time. Which is why I sell mostly used clothing, not diamonds.

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    1. No doubt you've also seen the booby trapped parcels too. Serves them right!

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  19. Well, if anyone nicked my boxes from Amazon, they would be highly disappointed to find a big heavy box of cat litter inside! 🙂 I have been lucky, so far!

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    1. That's another side to it; how on earth would they know what's inside?

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  20. This seems to be a regular occurance where I live as well. We have a front gate & deliveries can usually be placed over the gate, away from grabby hands.

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